[efoods]LONDON — Spot gold held steady below a fresh 18-month high Wednesday, underpinned by a weak dollar but struggling to find additional momentum to break the March 2008 record high of $1,032.35 per troy ounce.

U.S. consumer price data failed to give gold an additional boost, as the figures were largely as expected, analysts said.

At 1320 GMT, spot gold was trading at $1,018.55 a troy ounce, up 1.3% on the day and just off the intraday high of $1,020.55 an ounce. The dollar was at $1.4684 to the euro, down from $1.4658 at 0000 GMT.